1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary cutting device of the type generally utilized for cutting newspapers, particularly tabloid newspapers, whereby a pair of rotary cylinders are rotated in opposite directions to cut stacked sheets bearing printed matter so as to form the individual newspapers. The invention also relates to the method for cutting newspapers and the newspaper unique product resulting therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In typical folding and cutting systems as applied to newspapers, the sheets of paper bearing printed matter in repeating fashion thereon are generally collated and stacked for passage through a pair of cutting rollers. Of the cutting rollers one of the rollers is provided with a cutting blade surrounded by a pair of cheekwoods in the form of spring biased wood strips which protect the cutting edge of the blade, but withdraw under pressure of the second roller. The second roller is provided with a plurality of backing strips generally of an elastomeric material, for supporting the cutting blade and the newspapers when the cutting process takes place. The rollers rotate in opposite directions and are of differing diameters; however, alternatively they may be of the same diameter.
The diameter of the cutting roller is selected such that one half the rotation of the roller represents the total width of the newspaper, in the present instance, the width of a tabloid-type newspaper. Thus, when two cuts are provided by one full revolution of the rollers, the space between the cuts represents the width of the tabloid newspaper.
Generally, each cutting blade is a straight metal serrated blade which provides a similarly serrated edge on the newspaper. The serrated edge is well known to consumers who are familiar with such publications.
More recently, the practice in the newspaper industry is to provide weekend or Sunday editions having several sections each of which covers a distinct topic. For example such sections are generally categorized as the main section, the sports section, the real estate section, etc. The newspapers are generally sold to consumers with all of the sections combined such that consumers have found it increasingly difficult to identify one section from another, thus making the separation process somewhat confusing. Accordingly, the need for providing means for identifying one section from another has been established.
In the past, attempts have been made to cut newspapers in a manner to identify one section from another. For example, one previous attempt utilized a cutting blade which was shaped to cut and remove an arcuate-shaped section from one edge of the newspaper, thus providing a void along the edge similar to the thumb-shaped cut-outs used to identify pages of certain reference books such as dictionaries. Although this system was somewhat successful in assisting consumers in identifying the individual newspaper sections, it introduced additional complications by requiring the removal of the arcuate shaped sections cut from the newspaper edges. When total removal of the cutout sections was not accomplished these sections remained in the cutting area and interfered with the printing and cutting operations of the newspaper. Thus, removal of these half-circle shaped sections resulted in additional expenditures and complications and were not widely received.
The present invention relates to a rotary cutting apparatus and method for cutting such newspapers by simultaneously cutting and providing an outwardly extending projection on one edge of the newspaper and a similarly shaped void on the opposite edge of the newspaper thus avoiding the need for removal of any material while providing a unique continuous system for identifying sections of newspapers.